Developing a network during a global pandemic: the ASOR case

A Blogpost by David Usieto Cabrera

Building and developing a network during a doctorate under regular conditions can be a difficult task for many, but doing it during a global pandemic doubles the obstacles. Online conferences have become one of the best options to continue presenting new research while giving researchers the opportunity to expand their network. 

Conferences have severely adapted into switching the attendance to online platforms after everything started go get cancelled. This has experienced incredible growth as it is an excellent alternative to face-to-face interaction for several reasons: flexibility of time and schedule, cost savings and technological advances. 

My doctoral research was intended to be presented at one of the most important annual conferences for ancient-world and classics scholars: the American School of Oriental Research (ASOR), to be held at Boston from 15 to 21 November 2020. 

Unfortunately, the spread of COVID-19 as well as consequent lockdown measures around the entire world made it impossible to hold a physical conference. In response to this, and following the example of many other academic conferences, it was decided to be hosted virtually. More than 430 presenters from at least 20 different countries shared their work in over 80 sessions and workshops. To overcome difficulties such as visa problems, travel restrictions or shortcuts in finance on institutes and researchers, a virtual conference via Zoom offered itself as a complete solution.

Figure 1: Zoom lecture at ASOR.

his opened up a great number of opportunities for scholars all over the world and especially for Early-Stage Researchers like me. To keep everyone connected and engaged with each other’s lectures, the organizers used a very effective tool: an 24/7 online chat that trespassed professional boundaries to connect scholars regardless of origin, time and place.

This online chat allowed us to engage even more with the conference, despite obvious initial limitations, such as the impossibility to give a live lecture but instead a pre-recorded one, or the time differences between the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Researcher like me, who have had no previous contact with this sort of conferences before and had only a few contacts, had to start from scratch regarding technology and time management. It was a challenge to participate in a conference that was originally planned for 4 days but later programmed to last 2 weeks, divided in 4 full time days each week. A challenge, because time scheduling became tighter in terms of being committed for 2 weeks, and having to decide in the same day between 4 or 5 different rounds that were planned to occur simultaneously. 

Not only was this experience very fruitful professionally, but on a personal level as well, as it opened up the possibility of participation for those researchers who, for whatever reason, could not afford to travel the world to give a lecture. An obvious output of this sort of virtual Conference is the facilitation of participation in such a relevant overseas conference and the engagement of everyone involved at every moment. 

One question rises ever since we settled into this new life: Are these online conferences beneficial or good for us, the early career researchers? I absolutely agree on this, mainly due to the facilitation on everything related to Conference bureaucratic paperwork (travel tickets, organizing travel or worrying about visa issues) as it allows us to focus entirely on our lecture. Furthermore, technology has allowed us to be connected 24/7 and using it as a tool to create research networking is brilliant. Nowadays, it is possible to attend different Seminars, Conferences or lectures that are held in various places in the world (Sydney, Chicago, or Moscow) in the same day without moving away from your office. 

Figure 2: An image of my pre-recorded lecture.